JUNE 2001

Table of Contents

Conclusion

Most casual observers of UAMS as an institution and as a Medical Center would understandably consider it a fixed location in Little Rock. It is “the place to go for health care.” As this report makes clear, it is also a place that reaches out to people where they live and provides important health-care services “right in their own backyard.”

UAMS provides clinical services for children and adults in hometowns, so families can avoid the ordeal of traveling long distances for access to primary care physicians or specialists. The significance of our outreach services is evident in the underlying objective – no one should be placed at risk of loss of access to health care merely by geography.

UAMS produces on campus and delivers to hometowns a wide array of continuing medical and health education courses via sophisticated telecommunications pathways to hometown doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals. Extending the campus to rural communities statewide transcends mere convenience – it strengthens the health-care infrastructure of each community.

A local physician need not close his or her clinic for a day in order to attend a required refresher seminar at UAMS – with the related loss of access to the town's only physician for a day.

A nurse in a rural hospital need not quit what might be a hard-to-fill job in order to advance her/his education to the next level at the UAMS College of Nursing. In effect, the college comes to that town, and the classes are available locally. After graduation, the nurse may ascend a career ladder and build up the local capability of a rural hospital or clinic.

© 2001 University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Division of Institutional Advancement
4301 W. Markham St., Slot 716
Little Rock, AR 72205
501-686-5685

06/25/01